RAF Photographic Factory & Dorms!

History...

Photographic factory

The former photographic reconnaissance factory was built in the 1950s and spent over 40 years in operation. The factory was used for processing satellite images of Russian aircraft during the cold war. in the 1980s the air cadets were also stationed here! Parts of the site fell into disuse in the 1980s because of all the out dated technology. Finaly in the 1990s the whole site closed due to the end of the cold war. in 2012 part of the derelict site was demolished to make rooms for housing but the housing was never built because of the land being contaminated with mercury. The demolished half was the main factory warehouse where they made film rolls. Now it sites there uncared for.

Dorms

I no nothing about the dorms due to nothing on the internet. I know there Guard doorms due to a sign inside of the building!

Photographic Factory!





2nd Hallway



Old Reception



Old processing lamp



Main Corridor





2nd Corridor



Now heres the dorms!



Offices?



Old decaying door below window





Naffe!







Male Bathrooms!



Dining Room?



Thanks!

Nice photos, thanks for posting.

Good set there. Very beamy.

I liked that X, but be careful I noticed a weirdo in your pics, Thanks

Great set there...

Photos are much better now. Thanks for posting

Nice images. However this place did not process Satellite Images, it processed exposed 9 inch wide X 500 ft lengths of mostly Kodak produced film stock from the magazines of the F52 Vertical Reconnaissance Camera and similar Oblique View cameras. Over flights in the Cold War were made at maximum operational altitude when the cloud and ground mist conditions were suitable, where as in war time the mission could have been flown at lower altitudes. Loading the magazines was much like loading an old 120 roll film camera, except that it was done in total darkness and the spool of film was 9 inches wide. They might have wound the magazine spools from bulk stock, (bit like reloading 35mm cassettes from 100ft bulk stock), but in my experience we used pre-wound spools from Kodak for magazine reloading. The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes- NAFFI were and still are an essential part of any UK operational military base. Formally set up in 1920 there had been ad hoc organisations supplying the needs of our forces since before WW1, and in WW2 members of the Royal Army Service Corps were seconded to NAFFI in certain active or sensitive locations - Stromness in the Orkneys being one such location as I have Dad's log books and papers.

Nice report ExplorerX

Thanks a lot

Love your first shot! Got some good images of the site...and a correction by DS so all good lol